– Forex volatility prices surge ahead of highly-anticipated US Federal Reserve Meeting
– British Pound volatility near-guaranteed on pivotal week for GBP pairs
– Jump in volatility prices leaves our focus on Breakout2 trading strategy
Forex volatility seems near-guaranteed on a pivotal week for the US Dollar. Our focus turns to high-volatility trading with a special focus on USD and GBP pairs.
Short-term volatility prices/expectations have surged to their highest since mid-January as traders predict important financial market moves on a highly-anticipated US Federal Reserve rate announcement. Recent shifts in global interest rate markets as well as the S&P 500 and broader equities make the next market moves especially significant; despite hitting record-highs in February, the S&P has now traded lower for three consecutive weeks and effective erased all year-to-date gains.
Whether or not equity markets can recover from the recent market shift may depend on the Fed’s next moves, and the overall uncertainty leaves us in favor of high-volatility trading strategies across highly-affected currency pairs.
Forex Volatility Prices Surge Ahead of Fed Meeting, Uncertainty Reigns Supreme
Data source: Bloomberg, DailyFX Calculations
The Trading Strategy Bias table below highlights which currency pairs are at especially high risk of major moves and strategies we believe appropriate to given market conditions. We are broadly shifting in favor of more volatility-friendly strategies given the fairly substantial shift in broader sentiment.
Sign up for any future updates on market conditions via our e-mail distribution list.
DailyFX Individual Currency Pair Conditions and Trading Strategy Bias
Automate our SSI-based trading strategies via Mirror Trader free of charge
Understand the Breakout2 Trading System via our previous article
Auto trade the trend reversal-trading Momentum2system via our previous article.
Trade with strong trends via our Momentum1 Trading System
Use our counter-trend Range2 Trading system
— Written by David Rodriguez, Quantitative Strategist for DailyFX.com
To receive the Speculative Sentiment Index and other reports from this author via e-mail, sign up to David’s e-mail distribution list via this link.
Contact David via Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/DRodriguezFX
Definitions
Volatility Percentile – The higher the number, the more likely we are to see strong movements in price. This number tells us where current implied volatility levels stand in relation to the past 90 days of trading. We have found that implied volatilities tend to remain very high or very low for extended periods of time. As such, it is helpful to know where the current implied volatility level stands in relation to its medium-term range.
Trend – This indicator measures trend intensity by telling us where price stands in relation to its 90 trading-day range. A very low number tells us that price is currently at or near 90-day lows, while a higher number tells us that we are near the highs. A value at or near 50 percent tells us that we are at the middle of the currency pair’s 90-day range.
Range High – 90-day closing high.
Range Low – 90-day closing low.
Last – Current market price.
Bias – Based on the above criteria, we assign the more likely profitable strategy for any given currency pair. A highly volatile currency pair (Volatility Percentile very high) suggests that we should look to use Breakout strategies. More moderate volatility levels and strong Trend values make Momentum trades more attractive, while the lowest Vol Percentile and Trend indicator figures make Range Trading the more attractive strategy.
HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS HAVE MANY INHERENT LIMITATIONS, SOME OF WHICH ARE DESCRIBED BELOW. NO REPRESENTATION IS BEING MADE THAT ANY ACCOUNT WILL OR IS LIKELY TO ACHIEVE PROFITS OR LOSSES SIMILAR TO THOSE SHOWN. IN FACT, THERE ARE FREQUENTLY SHARP DIFFERENCES BETWEEN HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS AND THE ACTUAL RESULTS SUBSEQUENTLY ACHIEVED BY ANY PARTICULAR TRADING PROGRAM.
ONE OF THE LIMITATIONS OF HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS IS THAT THEY ARE GENERALLY PREPARED WITH THE BENEFIT OF HINDSIGHT. IN ADDITION, HYPOTHETICAL TRADING DOES NOT INVOLVE FINANCIAL RISK, AND NO HYPOTHETICAL TRADING RECORD CAN COMPLETELY ACCOUNT FOR THE IMPACT OF FINANCIAL RISK IN ACTUAL TRADING. FOR EXAMPLE, THE ABILITY TO WITHSTAND LOSSES OR TO ADHERE TO A PARTICULAR TRADING PROGRAM IN SPITE OF TRADING LOSSES IS MATERIAL POINTS WHICH CAN ALSO ADVERSELY AFFECT ACTUAL TRADING RESULTS. THERE ARE NUMEROUS OTHER FACTORS RELATED TO THE MARKETS IN GENERAL OR TO THE IMPLEMENTATION.
OF ANY SPECIFIC TRADING PROGRAM WHICH CANNOT BE FULLY ACCOUNTED FOR IN THE PREPARATION OF HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS AND ALL OF WHICH CAN ADVERSELY AFFECT ACTUAL TRADING RESULTS.
Any opinions, news, research, analyses, prices, or other information contained on this website is provided as general market commentary, and does not constitute investment advice. The FXCM group will not accept liability for any loss or damage, including without limitation to, any loss of profit, which may arise directly or indirectly from use of or reliance contained in the trading signals, or in any accompanying chart analyses.
DailyFX provides forex news and technical analysis on the trends that influence the global currency markets.Learn forex trading with a free practice account and trading charts from FXCM.
Source: Daily fx